The Cat Killer
by Kate-Emma
Summary: The team chase up a double murder with a mysterious connection... a small tabby cat
1. The Cat Killer

**The Cat Killer**

Prologue

Sarah Anderson had long blown hair and very pale skin. Her mother had been English, her father Polish, hence the skin colour and hair. She'd, however, always been Australian. Had lived in Melbourne since she was born and she loved it there. Now, 26, she couldn't imagine living anywhere else. There was just something about the city that always made her smile, always made her happy to be alive.

That Thursday night she was walking home from work, taking the usual route down two backstreets and across the park, when her phone rang. She frowned at the number then cancelled the call. Five minutes later, as she got halfway down the street, it rang again. This time she picked it up.

"Josh, I told you to leave me alone." She growled into the mobile. Josh didn't seem to take the hint and she sighed. "Please just leave me alone Josh." Then she hung up on him, turning her phone off and putting it in her bag.

Tears in her eyes she didn't notice the cat running across her path until she nearly stepped on it. She let out a small cry and took a step back. Then she realised what it was. "Oh, god, kittie you scared me." She smiled at it and bent down to scratch it's chin. It purred contently. Then, standing up, Sarah continued home.

***

Joy Robinson was down in Melbourne for work. Hailing from Sydney she didn't like the city one bit. It just wasn't right. In Sydney it was always sunny and always nice. But down here it was cold and always raining. Pulling her scarf around her neck tighter, she re-shouldered her bag and continued on her way.

It was a frosty Friday night as she made her way out of the train station and into the street. Slowly the other people around her disappeared into the darkness, or lost between the throngs of people heading for the train station to enjoy their Friday night, and Joy started off down a nearby street.

Outside her house she stopped when she saw the upstairs light was on. She sighed. Her sister was home. Joy hated her sister and had her sister not offered Joy a home in Melbourne she never would've taken it. Both a carbon copy of their mother, they should've been closer, but they weren't. Joy was too much like their father - stubborn and hostile. She stepped into the light of the room and searched in her bag for her keys, intending to enter the house as quietly as possible and hopefully not attract the attention of her sister.

She stopped when she noticed the cat sitting at the bottom of the stairs. She smiled at it then, finding her keys, stepped inside the house and shut the door.


	2. Anderson Holdings

Part 1: Anderson Holdings

"Obviously you don't quite get the similarity between weekends and work ends, sir." Duncan Freeman muttered, his voice suggesting he was tired despite being impeccably dressed.  
"It's not me, it's the crims." Stanley Wolfe replied, emotionless.  
"So, what've we got?" Matt Ryan bounded into the room cheerily, followed by Simon Joyner who was simply raising his eyebrows in an attempt to smother laughter.  
"Two girls." Wolfey replied, sticking two pictures up on the whiteboards behind him. He wrote the names above them as she spoke. "Sarah Anderson, 26." He said as he wrote above the brunette. He then turned on the redhead. "Joy Robinson, 28."  
Jen Mapplethorpe, who'd been sitting quietly at the table until now, frowned. "A double?"  
Wolfey shook his head. "No connection as far as we can tell. They were both found in the storm water canal connecting Barley Park to Hopesgrove Reserve. They were 5 kilometres apart."  
"So, who found them?" Jen continued.  
"Mitchell Henderson. He was out walking his dog."  
Simon frowned. "He found both? Don't you usually have a freak out after finding a body and go the police. You don't hang about going 'I wonder if there's another one?'"  
Wolfey shrugged. "Well, you can ask him yourself. He and his dog are waiting for you in Interview Room 3."  
Duncan chuckled. "He brought his dog?"  
"Maybe you can connect with it Dunny, see what it thought of the situation." Matt cracked. Duncan just shot him a humorous glare.  
"Matt, Duncan, you go talk to Mister Henderson. Jen and Simon, I have something else for you two."  
"Will it explain why this couldn't wait till Monday?" Simon asked, exchanging a look with Duncan.  
Wolfey nodded. "It will, if you haven't figured it out yet." He pointed at the picture of the Anderson girl. "This one is the daughter of Peter Anderson, chairman of Anderson Holdings." He then turned on Joy Robinson. "And Miss Robinson works for the Premier's office."  
Jen's eyes went wide. "So two influential young women then?"  
"By association, yes. Their cases have been marked very important and that's why you're here on a Sunday. Now, any more questions or are we going to solve this and go home?"  
"Anything that ends with me going home sounds good." Duncan said, standing up. He and Matt left for the interview room.  
Simon glanced at Wolfey. "So, what do we have?" He paused. "Please don't say death knock."  
Wolfey gave what could almost be a smile. "Okay, I won't then." And he left the office.  
Simon groaned. "Great, we get to tell the rich guy his daughter's dead."  
Jen rolled her eyes. "Come on Simon." And with a shake off her head she left. Reluctantly Simon followed.


	3. Mitchell Henderson

Part 2: Mitchell Henderson

Matt scratched the retriever behind it's ear as he and Duncan entered the room. While Duncan gave both the dog and Mr. Henderson a sour look, Matt smiled. "What's his name?"

"Buster; look, I don't know why I'm still here. I have to get to work soon."

"We appreciate that Mr. Henderson, but you discovered the bodies of not one, but two, young women. You must understand that this is a bit… well, odd." Duncan took a seat, frowning across the table at the man. Mr. Henderson didn't look your average psychopath, but then what actually did constitute a psycho anyway? If there were clear guidelines they could just round up everyone like that and lock them away. But Mr. Henderson, while definitely not being someone you'd leave your kid with, wasn't the town weirdo. Instead he just looked like a lonely brickie. Untidy hair, flannie, ripped jeans and missing one tooth at the front of his bottom row, Mitchell Henderson was the kind of guy you'd pass in the street without a bat of an eyelid. And it seemed that it was this normality that lead him to the discovery of Sarah and Joy.

"Okay, yeah, I get it. You want me to tell you how it happened?" He looked at Matt, having taken a liking to the man that had liked his dog. Matt nodded. "I was in Hopesgrove Reserve right? I take Buster here for a walk everyday. He likes chasing the ducks in the stormwater drain. Anyway, Buster runs off and I'm just walking along looking around for, well, anything to look at I guess." He gave a nervous laugh. "Anyway, then Buster goes mad. First I'm like, stupid dog and his duck obsession right? But then, well, he comes running back with his ears down and looking terrified. Buster's no wuss, so I headed down with him to see what he'd found. That's when I saw the redheaded girl. Face down right, in the water." He frowned. "It was horrible. She's just a kid."

He stopped and Duncan glanced between the man and the dog. Matt figured it was Duncan trying to work out exactly which one was the real brains behind the find. It was clearly Buster. Then Matt looked back at Mitchell Henderson. "And then?"

Mr. Henderson looked up. "Well, I called the police didn't I?" He said with a frown. "What else could I do? The police said they'd come out, but they were going to be some time and Buster was bored. So we kept walking. I figured, she's not exactly going anywhere is she?"

Duncan met Matt's eye with a look of both disgust and disbelief. Matt ignored him. "How did you find Sarah Anderson, the brunette?"

"Oh right, yeah so Buster and I are walking towards Barley Park right, and I think, one body is a cool find. I might get on the news, yeah? But then, what if there's more than one? So we kinda pick up our pace and then, halfway through Barley Park and bam, there she is. She's different but. She's face-up and all…" he trailed off. "After that I didn't want to find anymore so I went back to the redhead to wait for police." He looked up at the detectives. "I did the right thing looking for her didn't I?"

***

Duncan shook his head. "The dog was the most sane person in that room." He looked up at Stanley in shock. "It was like listening to a child. Seriously, this guy hasn't got any history of mental illness?"

Stanley shook his head. "Nothing."

"To be fair, he wasn't mad, just lonely. I think he genuinely thought he was helping by finding them." Matt said, taking a seat next the Duncan.

"Assuming he wasn't the one who put them there in the first place." Jen piped up. "It was a bit suss finding them both in the space of five minutes."

Matt shrugged. "He wanted to be on TV. Maybe that's all it was about. He got lucky, if you can call any of this lucky."

"Well, Mrs. Anderson didn't call it lucky. In fact, she believed something like this was coming. Bad luck coming in threes and all that junk." Simon said, entering from the main office and waving a piece of paper ahead of him. He taped it to the whiteboard. It was a bank account statement. "Mrs. Anderson told me that Anderson Holdings has been losing business lately. Recently they left the finance business, sold it off to Integrated Finance Pty Ltd. Anderson Holdings moved into the shipping business, bought a whole lot of land down at the docks. Looking at becoming the main shipping and sea transport line between here and New Zealand by the sounds of it."

Jen frowned. "Mr. Anderson didn't tell me any of this."

Simon shrugged. "I'm good with wives."

Matt fought back a smile. "Yes, yes you are."

Simon continued, ignoring him and turning his attention back on Wolfey. "Mrs. Anderson revealed that the family had been dealing with a lot of bad luck lately. Their business was knocked back for the proposed main shipping line. What that means is, the lead line for any shipping between Melbourne and New Zealand. Currently that is owned by McPherson and Sons Shipping." Simon stuck another piece of paper to the white board. "Samuel McPherson, owner of the company, has six counts of aggravated assault to his name and served three years for them. But he's been clear for ten years."

"I still can't see someone like McPherson getting a break with that kind of form. I mean, look at him, he looks like a skinhead." Duncan said, leaning back in his chair and assessing the man.

Simon nodded. "True. This where it gets connected though." He picked up a whiteboard marker and drew a line between Joy Robinson and Samuel McPherson. In the middle he wrote 'Shipping and Supplies – Premier's Office'. "Guess who supplied the licence?"

Stanley nodded. "Jen, Duncan, go talk to Mr. McPherson."


	4. Family Business

Part 3: Family Business

Samuel McPherson glowered right back at Duncan, not in any way put off by the Detective's clear dislike for the man. "I'm a busy man Detectives."

Jen nodded. "Yes, we know that Mr. McPherson, but two young women have been murdered and strangely enough both of them are pretty well connected to you."

"I don't know any recently murdered young men Detective, so if you don't mind…" he almost pushed Jen out of the way as he headed for a filing cabinet in the corner of what anyone would describe as a disgustingly messy office. Piles of papers cluttered the desk and bookshelf nearby. Two chairs, one holding what appeared to be an old airconditioning unit, were falling apart in front of the desk. And everything was covered in a layer of dust. Duncan had already cracked three jokes pertaining to the asthma-causing aspect of the place, both of which had made Jen cringe.

"Actually, we do mind Mr. McPherson. We know your record and what your capable of. Killing two young women doesn't seem in any way beyond your capability." Jen replied, turning on him.

Samuel stopped, shocked by Jen's tone. He turned defensive. "I didn't kill those girls. I don't know what you think I am but I wouldn't kill a girl."

"No, you'd just beat them. Three counts of abuse against your first wife, two against your second and one against your step-daughter." Duncan said, pulling out of his pocket a rap sheet on Samuel McPherson.

Samuel grabbed it off him and assessed it. His glare fell. "They were… mistakes." He sighed and looked up. "How do I know these girls because I don't know their names from memory?"

Jen returned to her normal tone. "Joy Robinson was responsible for passing your shipping licence. She was co-sign on the Premier's grant you received two months ago."

"Yeah, yeah I know her now. Good young thing. Kept complaining about Melbourne weather." He chuckled then explained. "I'm a Brisbane man myself Detectives. All power to locals, but this place is like ten seasons in one day. First day she came in with some jumped up little Premier's boy, sniffing around like a hound dog, Joshua something, she started whinging about the weather to me. We got along." He shook his head.

"So, what happened? What stopped you getting along?"

Samuel frowned. "Nothing. We were still on speaking terms last month. Mate, she was dating my son."

***

"What'd we get from Samuel McPherson?" Stanley asked as Jen and Duncan returned.

"A few things actually. Two names. One is his son Kieran McPherson. Kieran was apparently dating Joy Robinson. The other name as Joshua, we works for the licence department at the Premier's office. No last name known."

Matt came in. "I think we might have a last name for Joshua." He put a picture up on the whiteboard, strangely covering half of it with a white piece of paper. "This is Joshua Simmons. He worked with Joy. We got a call only minutes ago. Joshua went over to the Robinson residence this afternoon to see his good friend Joy. Neither her nor her sister were home. He tried calling her, but no answer. So, he said, he tried to contact his girlfriend in the hope she'd seen Joy. Apparently the parents told him to call us."

Simon frowned. "So, he noticed her missing? Good for him, but we know perfectly well where she is."

Matt shook his head. "This is Josh last weekend at a party." He tapped the picture of the girl in the background. "Office party. That's Joy back there, talking to someone." He removed the piece of paper. "And this is Joshua's girlfriend."

Even Stanley looked shocked when they realised they were looking at Sarah Anderson. He nodded slowly. "Bring Joshua in."


	5. Boys Will Be Boys

Part 4: Boys Will Be Boys

The young man, blonde and relatively handsome, glanced up at the two detectives as they entered the office. Deep into a phone conversation, he gave them a nod then proceeded to get rid of the person on the other end of the receiver. After hanging up, he stood and offered them a hand. "Hi, I'm Josh. I'm glad you could come see me. You have some news about Sarah?"

Jen looked at Simon then back at Josh. "Yeah, we do." She paused and took a deep breath, but Simon spoke over her.

"Very few people that would come into work on a Sunday Mr. Simmons." He glanced about the almost-empty office with the hint of a smile. "You must be pretty dedicated."

Josh shrugged. "You have to be to get ahead around here. I mean, I'm a nobody."

Simon frowned. "A nobody? But you approved the shipping lease on behalf of the Premier. I'm sure there's very few nobodies that get a chance to do that." Jen glanced at him to try and figure out what he was trying to say, but as usual she couldn't read Simon's expressions.

"That was mainly Joy. She's kind of the favourite around here. Say she'll be working WITH the Premier soon." Josh's smile fell. "Wait, you guys didn't say where you were from."

Jen took this one. "Mr. Simmons, we're from homicide. We need you to come down and take part in a formal interview for us."

Josh gaped. "What? What's happened? Was it Sarah? Oh god, Sarah? Or Joy?"

Jen glanced at Simon, this time in the hope he'd bail her out, and he did. "It's both of them."

Josh had to sit down.

***

Kieran McPherson was a cold young man, that much Matt could determine from the look on his face when he was told that Joy Robinson was dead. He didn't seem too upset at all. In fact, he looked rather interested.

Duncan seemed enraged by this and was determined to find out why, but Matt simply found it interesting.

"So, Kieran, when did you and Joy finish?" Matt asked, talking before Duncan could lest the fiery detective take a small chunk out of the cocky young man sitting across from them. Despite his father's appearance, Kieran was your average well-educated type and didn't look too interested in taking over his father's business at all. And it clearly appeared that Duncan was not a fan of the private school type before them.

"What makes you think we finished?" He asked with a smug smile. Matt just shrugged. Kieran continued. "We finished a week ago. She was getting, oh, what's the word, possessive." He leant back in his chair and crossed his arms. Matt put his hand on Duncan's shoulder as the man in the chair seemed ready to jump over the table between them and throttle the kid. Matt didn't blame him. He too wanted to punch the smug little prat, who had made them wait an hour before he'd come in so he could watch a show on the business channel, square in the face.

"You don't seem too upset that this has happened to her."

Kieran shrugged. "Good things come to those who wait." Then, with a smile, he answered no other questions.

***

Stanley assessed the whiteboard. "Okay, so, Joy and Sarah were friends by association with this man." He tapped the picture of Joshua Simmons. "He and Sarah dated and he and Joy worked together." He moved across to Kieran. "Joy dated him, who's the son of Samuel McPherson the licensee Joy appeared to do a favour for. As well as that, he's the business enemy of Anderson Holdings, the company belonging to her dad." He traced his finger along the line to Anderson Holdings and then back down to Sarah. "This is one very tangled web."

"As well as that we have one very suss boyfriend slash best-friend who is currently crying in an interview room. One ex-boyfriend who seems positively overjoyed that his ex-girlfriend is dead…"

"Cocky little jerk." Duncan muttered under his breath.

Matt continued. "And one strange and lonely witness who blundered across the bodies while out walking his dog." Matt tapped the pictures of Josh, Kieran and Mitchell in turn. He then turned to Stanley. "Sir, tangled in the understatement of the century."

"What do you want us to do sir?" Jen asked, rubbing her eyes and sipping from a large styrofome cup of coffee. It was a little after 4pm and the crew looked tired. Even Simon was struggling to keep his eyes open.

Stanley frowned. "Okay, Matt you keep on at Kieran. See if you can crack anything out of him. Simon, you and I will go see Josh and see if he can shed any light on this thing with Kieran. I don't like it one bit. Jen and Duncan, you go see Joy's sister."

"So, we're focusing on Joy for now?" Duncan asked as he pushed himself up off the desk.

Stanley nodded. "Yeah, one at a time is our best option. Plus this…" he tapped the whiteboard. "Is confusing enough at the moment without adding Sarah Anderson's history into the mix."


End file.
